Asylum seekers on boats reach 30,000

Date: November 21 2012

Bianca Hall

MORE asylum seekers have arrived on boats since Labor came to power in 2007 than people live in the remote community of Alice Springs, the opposition immigration spokesman, Scott Morrison, said on Tuesday.

The number of asylum seekers arriving by boat has reached more than 30,000. The population of Alice Springs was 27,589 in the 2011 census. Mr Morrison sought to paint that figure as an impending human flood. ''We now have an average of more than 2000 people turning up every single month,'' he said.

The government acknowledges that since July there has been an average of 2050 asylum seekers, not including crew, arriving each month by boat.

On Friday a parliamentary committee will examine the need for an independent panel of medical and psychological experts to report on the people detained on Nauru and Manus Island.

On September 21 the Immigration Minister, Chris Bowen, released the heads of agreement with International Health and Medical Services, which showed that when Nauru and Manus Island reached capacity, there would be a maximum of 33.5 health staff on Manus, including two psychologists and five mental health nurses, while Nauru would have up to 44 health staff.

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